n54 engine/ZHP engine with ZF 5 speed Manual transmission? Is it Possible?

[namemjs]

Hello,

a couple of months ago my 178k mile E46 2000 BMW 328i had very bad symptoms of a blown head gasket, turns out the owner before me used BlueDevil sealer before he sold it off to me and was a ticking time bomb (noticed a layer of white paste on inside of upper radiator hose when I replaced it). Motor isn't blown just very bad signs of head gasket leak and or cracked/warped head. Don't know the extent of the damage because it hasn't been torn down at all.

The chassis is very clean with minimum to no rust at all so I don't really want to sell it. My thoughts were to keep the chassis and either try to see how much a rebuild would be for the m52tu engine or to swap in an N54 engine or M54b30 engine from a ZHP. If I go with the second route, is there any way i would be able to reuse my ZF 5 speed manual transmission? I believe the N54 and ZHP uses a zf 6 speed but wasn't sure how different the bellhousings are or what modifications may need to be made for it to be compatible with the 5 speed. Btw I'm a noob as this will be my first swap if I go that route. If anyone can help me and provide me with your insight I would greatly appreciate it.

[BimmerBreaker]

N series engines (N52, N54 and newer) use a different bellhousing pattern and flywheel setup

The M54 will bolt right up to your existing parts though and be virtually plug and play... you can use your existing 2.8 intake manifold on it to make the swap really easy, or a TB adapter and some work to the fuel supply system to adapt the 3.0 manifold

[pbonsalb]

I agree the M54 3.0L would be the easiest way to go. N54 would be fun but a way more advanced undertaking that would likely end up costing a lot more.

[namemjs]

Sorry for the delay, So i just got a fully assembled m54b30 engine from a 2004 330i zhp. My only concern now is the "EWS" Issue that i only just recently thought about. The original ECU from the engine is damaged, owner said it caused random intermittent power loss while driving for a split second then came back. I have the engine wiring harness for the zhp and the starter. Would i have to purchase another 330i zhp ecu along with the key/ignition matching to it for it to work inside my 2000 328i chassis? Any help would be great.

[pbonsalb]

I would think you could get a tuner to flash your ECU for the larger displacement motor but am not sure and don’t know the cost. You are going from a dual vanos 2.5L to a dual vanos 3.0L. The engines are from only slightly different families — M52TU and M54, but things like sensors could differ.

Tuner might alternatively be able to disable EWS if you found another M54 3.0L ECU. Thus was easily done on the older E36 ECU but I don’t know about the E46.

[BimmerBreaker]

The existing DME can be tuned for the displacement but may be a little finicky about the camshafts and will require swapping a few other parts.A 2000 would be an M52TU, MS42 engine management. To run it as is on an M54 with MS43 would require adapting the TB and fuel rail or modifying fuel rail/supply for the M54 manifold.

M54's ran MS43 up to about 04(?). The ZHP however ran an MS45 DME. So to use the ZHP engine as-is on its original engine harness (MAF and O2's are different on MS45) you will will need to convert to MS45. Not very difficult to do, the hardest part will be running the 6 wires from DME to the electronic pedal.

The MS45 is definitely less reliable - have seen all kinds of issues with them including weird ones like atmospheric pressure sensors failing (which is a sensor on the DME itself). So I would totally believe that his was having issues... Hope the engine itself is ok though!

[namemjs]

Hmm okay, do you think I would run into EWS problems if I were to just purchase another standalone ZHP DME since I don't have the engines original DME? Would it be as simple as buying another DME and having it tuned/flashed so that it accepts my 2000 328i key? Or do you think it would be less hassle if I were to purchase a 330i ZHP DME EWS Ignition key set kit that all match to each other?

[BimmerBreaker]

Hmm okay, do you think I would run into EWS problems if I were to just purchase another standalone ZHP DME since I don't have the engines original DME? Would it be as simple as buying another DME and having it tuned/flashed so that it accepts my 2000 328i key? Or do you think it would be less hassle if I were to purchase a 330i ZHP DME EWS Ignition key set kit that all match to each other?

EWS is on the chassis side. Running anything except the original engine computer will mean the EWS is not aligned. You can keep it MS42 but if you run MS43 or MS45 it will need it aligned to the EWS or EWS deleted.

[namemjs]

Is there a way i could swap the EWS module for another one that has a matching dme such as the one in this link below?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165525300277

[BimmerBreaker]

And then you'll use a second set of keys to open the doors?

You can do it however you want but you can buy just an MS45 DME and get it aligned to your current EWS for cheaper than that set...